Last April, 20th Century Fox picked up the rights to Flash Gordon, a 1930s comic strip chronicling the space adventures of a sports player turned intergalactic hero. The comic spawned film serials and most famously, a cult 1980 film starring Sam J. Jones. While the comic was highly influential, the movie isn’t particularly great, although it does have some campy charm.

20th Century Fox will likely be taking the story in a different direction as THR reports that Kingsman director Matthew Vaughn is in talks to direct the Flash Gordon reboot. There are no details on what they’ll do with the story, although they’re currently working from a script by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, who previously did a draft for Star Trek 3. If Vaughn does sign on, it wouldn’t surprise me if he rewrote the script with writing partner Jane Goldman.

Kingsman was a hit, so Vaughn has a lot of cache right now. However, he's also very selective with his projects and doesn’t rush forward. He had a lot of momentum after X-Men: First Class, but waited before going ahead with Kingsman. However, if he does end up directing Flash Gordon, I’ll definitely be interested in seeing his take on the material.  But no matter what he does, I doubt he’ll be able to top the theme song from the 1980 version:

flash-gordon-sam-jones
Image via MGM